March 20, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The members of the 2008 graduating class of the UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) School of Medicine will undergo their residency training at hospitals from New England to California, with more than eighty percent remaining in the Southeast, according to numbers released from Match Day.Match Day is the day graduating seniors at medical schools nationwide find out where they will conduct their residency training, and in which field. Match Day, coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program, had 15,242 U.S. medical school seniors participating. Ninety-six percent of UAB's 160 graduates matched to a residency position, beating the national average of 94 percent.
UAB's graduates will do residencies at 63 hospitals in 26 states and the District of Columbia. Forty-three percent will remain in Alabama and nearly 37 percent will conduct their residency training in one of the primary care fields: internal medicine, family practice or pediatrics.
Twenty two percent of UAB's graduates will serve residencies in general surgery or a surgical subspecialty, with the remainder serving in other medical specialties.
"The 2008 class is well represented in the primary care fields and in surgery, continuing strong trends we've experienced over the recent years," said Laura Kezar, M.D., associate dean for students. "We are especially pleased with the large number of graduates who will remain in Alabama and the Southeast."
The American Association of Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association have suggested that America will face a shortage of physicians in the next 15-20 years due to flat enrollment levels and the anticipated medical needs of the aging baby boomer generation. In response, UAB School of Medicine has increased enrollment by 10 percent beginning with the Class of 2010.